The Powers That Be Ship Thee Brendan x Wally (Loverivalshipping)

Rusty Faucets Leak, Trubbish

Me: *Giggles* "Oh, my Skitties. My naïve, little Skitties...You probably thought there was no harm in striking up conversations with me...but you forgot about my overactive imagination. LegendaryHeroes, ChiiRyeeBiee, and FionaKeady, have I got things planned for you...Mua...ha...ha...Fifi's plan is later on in Ash x Gary (Palletshipping), though. And Hero, you're gonna have to wait a few chapters. But my shiny Trubbish! Your moment is nigh!" *Rubs hands together in excitement* "Now let's see what I have planned for you..."

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After much travelling around and levelling up, we're standing inside of Roxanne's gym in Rustboro City. Wally's currently challenging her for his first gym badge with Ralts. It's been really intense, and I really hope he wins! He looks like he wants to win badly. We have come a little too far just to lose here.

"Ralts! Use confusion on Geodude!" Wally commands. The rock type is picked up with amazing psychic power and then tossed into the wall of the gym. When the dust and debris clear, it's revealed that...Ralts won! We still have to beat one more pokémon, though, and Ralts is looking tired.

Huh? The peasant Ralts is glowing? Now, come here—that just ain't right! Peasants don't glow! Wait, is he effing evolving? What about me?! There's no way I haven't leveled up a ton and gotten close to Wally! What kinda deal is this? Why haven't I evolved, too?

Friggin' Ralts proceeds to turn into Kirlia, who of course has to make this moment more dramatic than it already is and somehow immediately faint. He also can't just pass out. No, he has to gracefully sink to the floor, doing a split. WHY are the peasants trying to take my throne?

"Because you don't really want it," comes the cryptic voice once again. It just hasn't left me alone since Mauville, and it also hasn't bothered to explain itself. It won't even confirm if it's Ninetails or not. "If you were truly determined, you wouldn't need to know my name. You would scour the earth until you found me." I'm starting to think it keeps showing up to give me a kick in the bum, though. I wonder why it cares about my level of motivation. "Oh, not me, Brendan. The powers that be..." And then it just fades out—leaving as fast as it came again. I'm gonna hurt myself if I try to wrap my head around what it's saying.

"Azure, come on! We have to beat, Nosepass!" Huh? Oh! We're in the middle of a battle over here! Okay, Wally, I'll try my best!

"Nosepass! Crush it with rock throw!" And I'm buried beneath a pile of rocks before I can even try attacking. Yaaaaay...This hurts, you know.

"Azure! Azure, oh no! I should've trained you more before making you fight for me! I'm sorry!" I can hear Wally apologizing as he seems to be trying to dig me out.

...Shouldn't I be the one apologizing? I failed him...Do I really care? What's the point in these stupid dreams? There's no way to achieve them. They're just dreams, and we're all being buried alive.

Wally manages to dig me out, and the disappointment on his face is like a kick to the gut. Why won't you just grow up, Wally? No one's dreams are coming true.

"That was a good battle, Wally. I hope you come back and try again," Roxanne says sweetly, like she's telling us something nice.

Wally nods to her, and then he leaves the building quietly, his eyes cast down upon the ground. Outside, he just stands there for a minute, and I'm starting to wonder what's wrong until a drop of water hits me in the face.

He's crying.

I'm a monster...

NO. He's a CHILD. Believing in hope and dreams and fairytales! He needs to learn to give up! This isn't my problem! His disappointment isn't on me! It's on him for expecting anything more than failure!